SSH Agent¶

Description¶

SSH (Secure Shell) is a cryptographic network protocol for operating network services securely over an unsecured network. The OpenSSH project provides the reference implementation, including ssh-agent for managing authentication keys.

Overview¶

This role is intended for Manjaro/Arch systems where gnome-keyring no longer reliably manages ssh-agent due to changes in behavior under Wayland. It works by deploying a systemd --user service, making SSH Agent integration predictable and independent of graphical environment quirks.

Architecture¶

ARCHITECTURE.md draws SSH Agent from its own metadata: the containers it runs under compose, what changes under swarm, how each volume is backed, and every role it depends on or is depended upon by.

Section	Drawn from
Compose	`meta/services.yml`
Swarm	`meta/services.yml` replicas and placement
Volumes	`meta/volumes.yml` against the NFS decision chain
Dependencies	`meta/services.yml` and `meta/main.yml` of every role

Purpose¶

The purpose of this role is to automate the provisioning of SSH agent capabilities and synchronize the .ssh directory from a Git repository. This enables users to access private repositories or authenticate with remote servers immediately after login.

Features¶

Clones a remote SSH config repository into ~/.ssh using the dsk-git role.
Deploys and enables a systemd user service for ssh-agent.
Ensures environment compatibility by injecting the SSH_AUTH_SOCK variable into either .bash_profile or .profile.
Fails gracefully with an optional debug message if the Git repository is unreachable.
KeePassXC ready: Ensures compatibility with password managers that support SSH agent integration.

Quick Setup¶

Development¶

Clone, set up the workstation, and deploy SSH Agent onto the local stack:

git clone https://github.com/infinito-nexus/core.git
cd core
make onboard
make compose-deploy mode=reinstall apps=dsk-ssh full_cycle=false

Production¶

Install SSH Agent directly onto the target machine: clone the repository, install the OS prerequisites and the repository toolchain, then deploy against localhost over a local connection (no SSH, no container):

git clone https://github.com/infinito-nexus/core.git
cd core
bash scripts/install/package.sh
make install
source scripts/meta/env/load.sh

APP=dsk-ssh
DOMAIN="<your-domain>"
TLS_MODE=self_signed
SSH_PUBLIC_KEY="<your-ssh-public-key>"
INVENTORY=inventories/production
infinito administration inventory provision "$INVENTORY" \
  --inventory-file "$INVENTORY/devices.yml" \
  --host localhost \
  --include "$APP" \
  --vars "{\"TLS_MODE\": \"$TLS_MODE\", \"DOMAIN_PRIMARY\": \"$DOMAIN\", \"users\": {\"administrator\": {\"authorized_keys\": [\"$SSH_PUBLIC_KEY\"]}}}"
infinito administration deploy dedicated "$INVENTORY/devices.yml" \
  --password-file "$INVENTORY/.password" \
  --diff -vv

Credits¶

Kevin Veen-Birkenbach

Part of the Infinito.Nexus Project and maintained by Kevin Veen-Birkenbach. Licensed under the Infinito.Nexus Community License (Non-Commercial).

This role deploys no third-party application, so the licence above is the only one that applies.